I’m thinking not.
I have no beef with Fourth Edition Dungeons & Dragons. I don’t own it, mind you, but I’ve read through parts. Two things turned me off: how class-based magic is handled and the requirement for minis. Having magic missile as an encounter power doesn’t jibe with my vision of magic. I like my magic mysterious, a little scarce. Without removing classes from play, this can’t be achieved in 4e.
As a side note, I’ve been told one could not model magic scarcity well in previous editions, and that 4e does it better. I find this a little startling, as I’ve always been able to do this (though I never actually tried with Basic D&D, but from 1e on, no problem) without removing character choice.
Anyway, I’ve never played with minis and I am not interested in investing in them. That’s not to say if someone brought minis to the game I would refuse to use them. They are certainly useful, I’m just not willing to invest in minis so I can then further invest in 4e when I already have games I know and run that do what I need them to do.
Okay, so that aside, I admit I am intrigued by the possibilities of 4e. If I got free books, free minis, and my players were clamouring for it, sure I’d run 4e. I think it would be easier if I just got the chance to play it.
And here’s what I wan to play: Nextwave, Agents of HATE as a D&D campaign. You see, Nextwave was all about superheroes who solved America’s problems by beating the crap out of sundry opponents. Wow, that does sound like a D&D campaign, doesn’t it? Considering that everyone says 4e is a rollicking good time, and that it looks like it’s all about the tactical combat, this could be the perfect match.
But Nextwave was also light-hearted. Well, more like cynically amusing. I don’t want anything too serious. The PvP/Penny Arcade 4e podcasts piqued my interest when I was still very disinterested in 4e. They were having fun. They were goofing off. Acquisitions Inc. could be Nextwave D&D.
If I were to run 4e, Given my track record, it is highly unlikely that I would run a dungeoncrawl. It’d likely be urban and based on intrigue. However, I’d be sure that all problems could be addressed by applying the proper amount of kick to the proper ass.
And hopefully, I’d get characters like Jim Darkmagic of the New Hampshire Darkmagics or Al, the Eldarin.